Perry unmoved by Christie’s bow to Medicaid expansion

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is getting kudos from the likes of the Texas Hospital Association President and CEO Dan Stultz for agreeing to expand Medicaid under the federal health reform law.

Stultz said in a statement:

“We applaud the very tough decision of Governor Chris Christie to become the eighth Republican governor to accept a proposal to expand Medicaid coverage.

“Texas hospitals would greatly benefit from the additional funds that our state would receive if we chose to expand Medicaid coverage here as well. For hospitals here, this is not a Republican or Democratic issue, it’s an issue of financial survival for the local hospitals and medical care that the people of Texas depend upon every day.

“Let’s be clear: The expansion of Medicaid in Texas brings relief not only to Texas hospitals for the unreimbursed medical care they provide, but also for those with insurance and their employers who subsidize billions of dollars in uncompensated care through higher health insurance premiums.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry remains unswayed, saying he will remain so “until the federal government gives states the flexibility, block granting for instance.” As Todd Ackerman wrote, the federal government won’t consider block grants.

“I’m almost positive we have said publicly that we would take 80 percent less of the money if they’d give us 100 percent flexibility. We could cover more people and do it cheaper, but the federal government refuses to allow states the flexibility. They just don’t want to cede control of that almighty free money that they have up there,” Perry said Tuesday after a speech to a National Federation of Independent Business/Texas conference.

Good thing he said “almost positive.” I asked Perry spokesman Josh Havens about the state being willing to give up 80 percent of its Medicaid funds, and he said that the governor was talking about running the program with 80 percent of the money it now receives if it had flexibility to do so as it sees fit.

Havens said, “I think the point the governor is trying to make is that if the federal government would give the state’s 100 percent flexibility to tailor Medicaid to fit the needs of each state, they could do a better job running a more efficient program.”